When Jamaica held us scoreless til last kick in March window NL, fotmob had the lineup as follows (post game ratings) ---------puli-------balo-----weah ---------tilman---McK------musah --ARob-----MRob--Rchds--scally -----------------gk:Turner Is that what you're going with in Nov? If not, who are you changing out?
If everyone were fit. ------------------------Balogun------------ ------------Weah-----Reyna------Pulisic-- -----------------Adams----Tillman---- -------Jedi------------------------------------Dest--- ------------------Trusty-----Richards---- ------------------------Turner------ But I'm certainly anxious to see what McKennie could do at the 10. Tillman would bring the progressive passing while not sacrificing anything on the defensive side of the ball.
Miles stunk it up against Mexico. Be got out jumped twice by a 5' 9" player one for a shot. He is 6' 3". Richards is still hurt. Miles was also almost equally responsible for the goal when Ream tried to dribble out Barring getting Chase, McKenzie and CCV will probably be the pairing. Fossey will probably get one of the starts at RB as he was supposed to start against Mexico before he got a knock. Johnny will probably kick Tillman out of your lineup he made TOW in la Liga. Balo is still hurt so Sarge or Pepi will start up top.
CCV? Against Jamaica? He's the very last choice that's still nominally in the pool who isn't injured. Miles was indeed bad against Mexico. Still the choice over CCV against Jamaica if you have to choose. You can't put out a guy who is an athletic liability (particularly if you're going to live with Ream next to him) who doesn't have a plus tool that we need to compensate against probably the most overall athletic team in the region, particularly up top.
Musah played the #6 in that match. One thing that is often forgotten in that match is that the US's best chance in the first half was a 3 v 1 which was started when Tillman pressured the Jamaican ball carrierand won the ball to start a transition attack. Balo played the ball to Pulisic who did not hit it first time and Jamaica recovered to poke the ball off Puli as he turned into the defense. See 3:05
It's Balo who gets it all wrong. And people think he is this big talented player who absolutely has to start over those who have more technical skills. Stop the tape where the ball leaves Balo's foot - the moment of decision. Either you see it or you don't. Actually Tilman had a much better shooting opportunity than Pulisic just a little later - go to 4:20. Notice which way the keeper is leaning when the shot is made and if Tilman has any help nearby.
The pass could have been better but it was absolutely a ball Pulisic could have opened up taken first time on his right from the middle of the box with the whole goal to shoot at. If he goes to Tillman that’s a wider angle shot but help will be slower to get there.
Certainly you want your #9 to be on the end of a fast break not leading it. At 3:55 Tillman gets a ball wide and deep in the defensive half and with great vision sees Pulisic's run and from the half line drops a ball on Puli's foot just outside the 18. With a Big 4 touch Pulisic should have been in on goal. Those are the kinds of play that Tillman routinely makes match after match at PSV.
He scuffs a back heel while executing the correct decision, imo. A big four touch, as you put it, would have put the ball on a platter to Balo.
Taking into account suspensions: Pepi; Tillman, Pulisic, McKennie, Musah, Johnny; Jedi, McKenzie, Zimmerman, Scally; Turner Can flex into a 4231, 433, 3421, etc…
IMHO, too few of you are giving Tessmann enough credit. I think his development is maturing very rapidly and that he will soon be (fingers crossed), if he is not already, pushing for a starting position. As @gogorath suggested in post #12644, Tessmann presently looks as if he is the most likely player to manage line-breaking passes with the necessary speed and accuracy. It is a huge problem for the team regardless of whether Adams is present or not. I had hopes that Musah's skill set would mature to fill that need, but it seems to have veered away from it, instead.
I have been waiting for him to be able to do that as a starter for us. I just don't know if he's at that point yet. If he does get there he adds something that only John Brooks could do regularly and he could only do it with one foot - those very long, accurate diagonals. I'm more worried about his quickness side to side with quick players. Would like to see him and Johnny paired as it would be one of our bigger midfields ever.
Yeah, the thing about Tessman that makes me interested is his ability to make attacking passes from deep. He has good vision to see those long balls and he hits them quickly without needing a bunch of time and space to wind up. If we keep playing with two deep midfielders who control the play, I'd be very interested what a pairing of Adams who tackles and eats up space while making quick, short passes and Tessman with his greater range and tendency to stick more in place could do in those spots. Even in this window I'd like to see Tessman get some minutes next to Johnny. We've really lacked good passing from midfield into attack and I would be really happy if Tessman developed into a guy who could provide something there.
Not to mention Johhny and Tessmann can both hit long, hard shots. We haven't seen much of that lately.
Athletic has a story on him Tanner Tessmann: Lyon, the Olympics – and three texts that changed everything - The Athletic Tessman on his Oly experience: "When you have guys like that, it just creates something special. And win, lose or draw, we had such a good time… And then to be Team USA at the Olympics, there’s no better team to be a part of anywhere in the world. The way we got treated, to see other American athletes compete and go to some events and support them, and to be a part of that, is incredible.” What a shame Aiden was held out because of his transfer to Middlesboro who refused to release him. It's so great to have players who really want to play again and be part of a team rather than sitting around worrying about their personal status.
Pepi Weah - Pulisic - Musah Wes - Tessman Jedi - Trusty - McKenzie - Richards Turner I think that Scally and Ream played their way out for me. 3/4 of the back line is very negotiable right now, and I put Richards in there even though he might not actually be healthy. Injured and in the conversation: Dest, Adams, Reyna, Balogun On the cusp based on club play: Tillman, Johnny Under consideration purely due to how shallow we are at their position: Schulte, Miles, Zimmerman, CCV
As usual, I didn't see the deep faults in Scally's play that others see. I will be interested to see how Poch sees things. I see Scally as a reliable backup to Dest and Jedi, and someone who has gotten better at compensating for his lack of pace. To my eye, he put in several nice balls on the offensive end, and the physicality of his on-the-ball defense is a plus that breaks up counters. Others see his play differently, so his future under Poch will be interesting to see.
I would still have him in my squad, but it’s getting less and less certain. He got torched by Turkish 2nd tier Cephas over and over across the two legs. Jamaica’s second goal happened after he dropped back nearly to the six yard box before even contemplating a soft challenge. And their first goal featured pretty mediocre back post defending/communication on his part as Gray just drifted away from him. Plus the penalty in game one happened after a really poor giveaway. I don’t know what else he’d have to do to earn negative marks tbh, he was the primary culprit on most of Jamaica’s best goal scoring chances and didn’t contribute meaningfully towards goal production on our behalf.
I'm curious why you think Scally is last man back on corner kicks for club and country. Does that position need a slower player?
For some reason , on BS, Scally gets the blame for the goal on which he completes his assignment - covering the near post - allowing Turner to move enough towards the ball to make the diving save at the far post. What I noticed was that his simultaneous block attempt with the left leg (I see why this guy is hard to beat ) was just a skosh "tired" and didn't connect for a block. It didn't matter because Turner made the save. Turner is the kind of light n' long gk I prefer - unlike Steffen who falls hard. Turner really ought to be able to do better turning shots around the post which he could practice more without injuring himself. I'm not a gk guy so I might be all wet. Scally is still young enough to add more stamina to his leg. He just has to continue playing. I did a kind of ragged second watch with lotsa interruptions and I'm surprised how people want Scally and Rream outta there and you don't hear anything about McKenzie. Anybody remember McKenzie's attempted pass that is blocked and falls to Jamaica's striker in the box just above the pk spot with open net in front of him? Guess who saves the day. Ream, of course.
The issue is that Cephas received the ball in the midfield, and Scally didn’t confront him until he was 8 yards away from goal. And that confrontation wasn’t even aggressive, it was completely passive and insufficient. Have to force the player wide higher up the field and let your teammates recover.
I went back and re-watched. It's too complicated to get into because we don't even know what instructions the back line had. If Aaronson were in there for tired Pulisic it wouldn't have been a goal. The goal is scored at 68' mark and Aaronson comes on for Pulisic at 69'. McKennie goes off at 69' as well. Busio comes on for him. Take a look at the heat map of McKennie/Busio. Draw your own conclusions. We know how Pochettino reacted. Is that what you would have done? I take it you would have subbed off Scally.